Description

Lecturer and photographer Serena Fass following in the steps of the Magi who came to worship the infant Jesus as described in Matthew 2.

Who were they? Where did they come from? Why did they come?

These and many questions have been addressed with the help of Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian academics and clerics of all denominations.

The story of the Wise Men who came to visit the baby Jesus is brought to life in a new book being launched next month to raise funds for a charity helping suffering Christians in the lands of the Bible and beyond.

The Magi, their journey & their contemporaries, a 300-page paperback complete with more than 200 illustrations, is the fruit of author Serena Fass’ labours investigating the famous figures from the Christmas story who come to the manger bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Following their journey to the stable in Bethlehem and assessing their changing portrayal in the annals of history, the book seeks to answer key questions – who were the Magi, where did they come from, and why did they come in search of Jesus.

With contributions by Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian academics as well as clergy from numerous Christian denominations, the book opens with a foreword by King Simeon II of Bulgaria and an introduction by Bishop Christopher Chessun of Southwark.

The book – a companion volume to Serena Fass’s work The Cross released in the spring – is aimed at raising funds for Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need’s work supporting persecuted and other suffering Christians in Iraq and Syria.

The Magi

I have spent much of my life travelling, whether exploring on my own, or taking other people on adventurous journeys, many of them in the Middle East and I have long been interested in the story of the Magi and their journey to find Jesus.

After many recent trips to Iran and encountering the Zoroastrians and their fire temples, still alight today in Yazd, (having never been extinguished since the time of Cyrus the Great) and as many to Eastern Turkey as well as to Jerusalem, I was curious to know why, two thousand years ago, some astronomer priests, three, four, twelve or forty, might have followed a star on a portion of the Silk Route on an uncomfortable twenty-eight day journey of some eight hundred or so miles, allegedly from Kashan or elsewhere to Bethlehem.

Opinions vary as to where the Magi came from: some say they were Zoroastrian priests from Iran, or Babylon, or Nineveh, or from Commegene, Urfa or Harran in Turkey; later legends pointed to the Arabian peninsular, Ethiopia and India, so I decided to try and find out more. With a minefield of conflicting evidence from the early Church Fathers to recent DNA testing, it is still not possible to be certain if the Magi existed, where they were from, or where they are buried.

St Helena was convinced that she had found their bodies, brought them back to Constantinople, wrapped them in Imperial purple brocade and taffeta, and when danger loomed, had their sarcophagus taken by Bishop Eustogius to Milan, an important Byzantine city, where it remained until the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, seized Milan from the Pope in 1167 and carried off their greatest treasure to Cologne. Here he had a cathedral built specially to house these priceless relics; they remain there today above the High Altar.

Alternatively, Marco Polo reports that he found three ancient tombs, allegedly of the three Magi, in a near perfect state of preservation in three sarcophagi marked with crosses, in Savah, just east of Tehran, and that they had met and started out from Kashan, which was an important Zoroastrian site where King Solomon, no less, was said to have had a garden built round a pool of healing water. One legend has it that St Thomas met up with the Magi on his was through Iran en route to India and baptised them. And that they lived to a ripe old age and died as martyrs.

I have tried to include all these legends and theories and to leave it to the reader to decide – because we will never know all the answers for certain.

Serena Fass,  London, Easter 2015

Over the course of time numerous legends about the Magi, expressed in art and literature,  grew up in both East and West.  The wonderful display of texts and images which Serena Fass has put together will be a delight for any reader who is curious to explore the many different ways in which the Magi were imagined over the centuries.

Dr Sebastian Brock, Emeritus Reader in Syriac Studies, Oxford University.

 This richly illustrated book takes the reader on a fascinating journey along the trail of the Magi from the East to the West           Almut Hintze, Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism Study of Religions at  SOAS, the University of London. 

The Magi is a very worthy successor to The Cross. Serena Fass delights with her erudition and carefully chosen photographs. A book of treasures to be treasured.            Sir David Verey, CBE.   Chairman, The Art Fund (2004 – 2014).

Praise for The Cross: meditations and images with a foreword by HRH The Prince of  Wales:

“It is a fantastic gazetteer of the Christian world at different times and places.”

Jason Goodwin, Country Life, 2013.

“…a beautiful book.”

Mark Amory, The Spectator.

“Serena Fass has compiled what can only be described as a breath-taking archive…

          A beautifully designed and well thought out book.”

Margaret Daniels, The Methodist Recorder.